It’s a dragon!
This week our focus story has been Zog by Julia Donaldson. The children have enjoyed exploring our Zog themed provision, here’s what we have been getting up to!
We did our first science experiment! The foaming dragon. The children watched how the baking soda reacted with the vinegar to create a fizzing foam.
It exploded out of the dragons mouth-Gracie
Red dragon- Hunter
It’s got circles and triangles, the circle is the dragons head- Cora
It’s got lots of spikes- George
Zog wanted to help the princess be a doctor-Austin
Here is a link so you can enjoy watching Zog at home with your child/children ….
Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog (it’s along the play bar) and turn off auto play – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip
Next week is all about DINOSAURS, so make sure you bring your stomping feet! RAHHH
Miss Ward
Living and Learning: I know how to seek help.
Over the last two weeks in Living and Learning with Mrs Bald, we’ve been learning how to keep safe by assessing our risks and seeking help from someone we trust.
In the first lesson, we thought about lots of different risks in our homes and we discussed solutions to stay safe in high risk situations. Have a look at our fantastic ideas here!
In our second lesson, we thought about who might be able to help us stay safe. We talked about our trusted adults being able to keep us safe at home and in school. We also talked about Childline, a service for children and young people when support or advice is needed. We memorised their number 0800 1111 using actions.
Geography: Mount Vesuvius
Today, we’ve learned about yet another volcano – Italy’s Mount Vesuvius…
…but it’s not the geography learning I was massively impressed by (although the geography learning was fab, too!).
I’ve been blown away by the children’s HANDWRITING! It’s been great tracking back to September to see how much we’ve all improved.
We often think that handwriting is something to only think about when we first learn to write but now it’s more about our general presentation, formation of letters and personal style that’s at the forefront.
Some children are coming home with a copy of their handwriting to show off at home! Great job, Year 4!
Living and Learning: I know how to seek help.
This week in our living and learning session, we have been thinking about knowing how to seek help.
We listened to an NSPCC assembly learning all about the work they do and we learnt actions to help us remember the Childline phone number. (08001111)
We thought about the word seek and practised our seeking skills – looking for the shapes that Buddy (the speechmark character from our NSPCC assembly) had lost.
We thought about who could turn to if we needed help. We discussed who could turn to if we needed help and who our safe adults were both at home and at school.
Science: waterproof or absorbent?
In our Science lessons, we’ve been exploring everyday materials such as wood, metal, plastic and fabric. This week, we’ve thought about paper and the ability to soak up water.
We performed a simple test, pouring some water onto different types of paper. If the paper soaked up water, this means that it is absorbent. If the paper didn’t soak up water, it was waterproof.
We found out that kitchen roll is absorbent, which is why it is good for cleaning up mess! We also found out that the greaseproof paper was waterproof, which is why it is good for cooking.
We talked about the wrapping paper being waterproof. However, Miss Kay had brought in three different types of wrapping paper to share. We found out that not all wrapping paper is waterproof!
Multiplying in Maths
By the end of Year 4, children are expected to know all multiplication tables
to 12 x 12 and recall the corresponding division facts. Using knowledge of
multiplication calculations, children will begin to use formal written methods to record their work, including the use of arrays. At home, you can support your child by practising reciting multiplication tables, ensuring your child can recall them and the corresponding division facts.
Today, some children used place value counters to help to multiply a two digit number by a one digit number.
34 x 4 =
4 lots of 34 =
Once the counters were in the correct place value rows, we looked to see whether we could exchange 10 ones for 1 ten and 10 tens for 1 hundred. Finally, we added up the total and wrote the answer. Can your child explain this to you?
Recently, the class have been exploring how to multiply by 10, 100 and 1,000. When multiplying by 10, children need to be able to visualise making a number 10 times the size and understand that “10 times the size” is the same as “multiply by 10”.
Key questions
• What do you notice when multiplying by 10?
• What is a placeholder? When do you use placeholders?
• What happens to the digits in a number when you multiply
by 10?
• What is multiplied by 10?
• What is 10 lots of ?
Help, to multiply by 10, at home by using this example changing the numbers each time.
7 × 10 = 70
10 × 7 = 70
70 is 10 times the size of 7
Is the statement always true, sometimes true or never true?
If you write a whole number in a place value chart and multiply it
by 10, all the digits move one column to the left.
Discuss this with your child. Can they recall the learning done in class?
Week 4 – The Magic Paintbrush
Happy New Year!
This week in Reception we have been learning more about the Lunar New Year. We discovered how people across the world will be having new year celebrations and that 2023 is the year of the Rabbit! We were particularly interested in how dragons featured not only in our focus book but in lots of the celebrations. We created our own dragons and even learnt to dance like a dragon in our own parade.
We wrote good luck messages for the year ahead and build great walls to show our representations of the Great wall of China!
Bex Rayner
Thank you to everyone for all of the amazing sponsorships which allowed this great visit to take place. we were so excited to meet Bex and to learn more about what it is like to be a football player. We loved taking part in the circuit training and even our very own Mrs Walton showed her football skills in the assembly.
As you all know we love reading in Reception and love sharing stories with others. On Wednesday Yr 5& 6 came down to share some special stories with us. It was so nice to hear other people read and we even showed off our new reading skills to them!
Ways to help at home:
- Phase 3 phonics flashcards have been sent home. Please keep reading together to gain confidence
- Writing words together
- Daily reading using e-books. If anyone is having any problems logging in please let me know.
Mrs Payne
It’s freezing!
This week the children explored our outdoor provision to see if they could find some ice. We talked about why and how things freeze and what would happen if the temperature would increase.
The soil is hard because it’s got water in – Austin
It’s frozen in the same shape, you can see the lines from the tyre- Gracie
Look Miss Ward, the car is stuck in the ice!- Deacon
The sun has melted the grass- Beau
We also explored Lunar New Year this week. Lunar New Year is the beginning of the lunar calendar, the months are based on moon cycles. This event is a celebration observed by many cultures around the world.
The children cooked up a storm in the kitchen, experienced using chopsticks, made rabbit sun catchers and enjoyed a traditional new year meal in school. 2023 is the year of the rabbit.
Red is a lucky colour- C
They clean their house to get rid of bad things- Sophie
A horse , a dragon and a rabbit- Frankie
I like noodles- Ella
Have a lovely weekend!
Miss Ward
Geography: A case study of the Icelandic volcano
This week during our topic lessons, we’ve been learning about the Icelandic volcano that reeked havoc throughout the world when it erupted in April 2010.
We’ve thought carefully about how the erupting Eyjafjallajokul affected life on a local, national and international scale… but it’s pronouncing the name of this dormant stratovolcano that’s proved tricky for us..! Jacob, Jayden and Lilly gave it a really good go but weren’t quite right…
Have a go at learning how to pronounce this volcano…
Can’t wait to hear how you get on!
St James’ goes to Magna!
Last week, we took our geography learning to Magna in Sheffield. It was a great way to kick start our Natural Disasters topic and got us all excited to find out more about the world around us.
We started by creating our very own erupting volcanos. Check out how we got on…
In the afternoon, we explored the different pavilions, water, ice and fire. We watched The Big Melt which showed us how steel is melted. Sparks were flying everywhere!
It was amazing! 
